Omerta: Gold Edition

It's sad to see cool games like Omerta: City of Gangsters remain low profile and undetected for most people. Kalypso (At least for me) proved to be a great publisher, supporting some amazing and fun games like "The First Templar" or, of course, the Tropico series. But, let's focus on the main point, because you're not here to hear me praise Kalypso, aren't you? You're here expecting to read a review that might convince you to buy this game. Well, first of all, I've never liked turn-based games. I have little patience and always drives me mad. But, I don't know what happened to me with this game. Perhaps because I've always been fond to gangsters games since "The Godfather". This game was tons of fun for me and I enjoyed a lot. Plus, this is THE pack. You will receive not only the main game, you'll also receive all the great DLC's to keep playing until you hate it. And, then, love it again.

On paper Omerta sounds incredible. An X-com style strategy game with gangsters, RPG elements and a hub map for territory and gang management, even writing that down makes me excited to play it. Unfortunately for me, the excitement faded quickly and I was left trying harder to enjoy it more than I actually was. The game is by no means bad or broken, it quite simply suffers from trying to be too many different things and in turn accomplishes very little with any real depth or competence. The map screen is where you will likely spend the majority of your time and I would say it's its strongest element. The RTS style gang management is strong as you have to manage your resources at the same time as monitoring your 'heat' level, it's compelling and some of the mechanics are intuitive. It does become repetitive and you will likely find yourself looking for a combat sequence to break the monotony, a few minutes into the combat though, and you will be wanting to go back to the map. The X-com style combat is ultimately the weakest part of the game. The cover system is seemingly superfluous at times which often conflicts with the player's attempts at strategy, why use flanking and covering fire when you can kill anyone (in cover or not) that's in your sights by simply shooting at them repeatedly? There's also very little atmosphere or drama to these segments and a success kill or victory inspires barely any sense of accomplishment. Ultimately they feel tedious, like an obstacle to the game you want to play. The visuals are solid, especially the map world. The soundtrack is superb and fits in with what you would expect from 1920's gangster movie. In conclusion, it's possible to have a good time with Omerta and the gold edition is a perfect opportunity to do so. Despite its faults and lack of any real identity, it's certainly worth a look if you're a fan of gangsters or if you have little expectations, but If you're interested solely as a fan of a genre you think this holds, there's a chance you will be disappointed as I was.

This is an absolutely brilliant gangster game which will enthrall and entertain you for hours. The core gameplay is extremely well designed and the controls make playing through the many different campaign missions and absolute joy. The graphics involved in the game are great, although the character models leave something to be desired. The sound design however more than makes up for the slightly poor character models. Overall this is a great gangster game which offers up plenty of content in a fun and vibrant city!